Cleve-Lens: Yes

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I’ll admit it. I don’t think very highly of the latest trend of replacing lead singers in definitive rock bands. Whether it is Queen, the Doors, Journey or Alice in Chains (and now maybe even Led Zeppelin?!), the idea just does not sit well with me. So when I read that Yes was putting Jon Anderson on the injured reserve with vocal issues and calling up tribute band vocalist Benoit David for this current tour, I was a bit incredulous. Anderson’s voice defines the band, and it’s hard to imagine another vocalist sustaining those high notes throughout the band’s epic songs.

Well, whatever apprehension I had was erased immediately upon hearing David’s voice soar on the opening wallop of “Siberian Khatru” and “All Good People.” He wasn’t quite Anderson (not many people are), but he was more than an adequate replacement, not withstanding a few vocal cracks and occasional octave changes. For the next two and a half hours, David and the rest of the band (guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Allen White, and keyboardist Oliver Wakeman) took the near sell-out House of Blues on a sonic journey through the bands prog-rock catalog.

While it was initially hard to imagine Yes without Anderson, it might be even harder to imagine them without Howe and Squire. The two spent the night rotating in and out of the spotlight, with Howe shredding his guitar on the “Long Distance Runaround” and Squire exercising his bass during “Close to the Edge.” White also had an opportunity to solo, demonizing his skins for a good four minutes during “Astral Traveller.” The band did hit a brief lull in the middle of the second set, getting a little too spacey with a few tracks (notably “Alien"), but the set closer “Starship Troopers” brought the band back to its notable hits. An encore of “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and “Roundabout” were the perfect songs to close the night, with the latter truly highlighting the band’s virtuoso combination of complex instrumentation and pop vocals, regardless of who is singing them.

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